Angel Mae Lazaga, Grade 11 student makes her math project inside their makeshift house at the CICC grounds. (CDN PHOTO/JULIT JAINAR)
Backfilling work at Mantuyong-Guizo fire site expected to be done by October
While other students stayed at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) lobby for the entertainment and feeding program of the Mandaue City Government for the fire victims yesterday, Angel Mae Lazaga, Grade 11 student of Cebu Technological University (CTU) chose to stay inside their shanty to make her math project.
Angel Mae was seen by Cebu Daily News using a small chair (bangkito) as her table while doing her project.
“Wala lang ko niapil kay maabtan unya ko’g gabii, Monday na raba deadline ani (I did not join them because it might go on until evening and the deadline of submission for my project is on Monday),” Angel Mae said.
Angel Mae, who is into Humanities and Social Science, said that it was difficult to study with the situation they were in.
She said that the lighting in the shanty in the morning was not conducive to studying.
“During evenings when I need to study, I will just do it under an electric post,” Angel Mae said in Cebuano.
Angel Mae’s mother Gina Lazaga, 41, is a housewife and her father Ernesto Lazaga, 49, is an air-conditioning technician.
Gina said that she felt sorry for her children especially with their situation now.
“Maluoy ko labi na mag uwan ug kusog ang hangin tagbaw mig gunit sa tulda nga di molupad,” Gina said.
However, despite their situation, Angel Mae promised that she will not let their situation affect her studies.
“Maka ingon sad ko nga kapoy pero wa naman tay mahimo kay naa naman sa sitwasyon nga nagkalisud (Despite the difficulties, we are facing we have to accept it because of the unexpected and difficult situation we are in),” Angel Mae said.
The Lazaga family hopes that they can rebuild their house and go back to their lot at Barangay Guizo as soon as possible.
But engineer Andres Suson of the City Engineering Office said that the fire victims would have to wait until October this year to rebuild their houses in Barangays Mantuyong and Guizo.
Suson said that they were not yet done with the backfilling since they lacked backfilling materials.
He said that they already requested P21 million from the city government for additional backfilling materials.
The city needs to backfill 2 hectares of the site before the residents can go back and rebuild their houses.
“Wala pa nahuman ang pag-backfill naa sa mga 15 percent pa … kuwang mig 50 mil metro cubico ang yuta nga iabuno namo (We have not finished yet with the backfilling since we had only done 15 percent … we still need 50,000 cubic meters of backfilling material),” Suson said.
Suson said that they would see to it that they would meet their commitment to the mayor to finish the backfilling in four months.
He said the city government will fund the five collapsible transitory houses of the fire victims which would be built along the road near the fire site.
However, he said the bidding for the purchase request of the houses has not been scheduled yet.
Around 2,000 families were displaced when the fire hit Barangays Guizo and Mantuyong last March 12.